BARTOW -- The fact they could spend the rest of their lives in prison didn't stop several of the teen girls accused of beating a Polk County cheerleader and videotaping it for the Web from chatting, smiling and even laughing before their first appearance in adult court Friday.

Fourteen-year-old April Cooper tried not to smile as she stood in a small courtroom at the Central County Jail and watched a television screen, where the judge and her attorney were being broadcast live from the courthouse a couple of miles away.

Cooper was the first to receive what her seven co-defendants also would: more than $30,000 bond and a lengthy list of restrictions if she posts bail.

In addition to house arrest, those pre-trial conditions include: no use of Internet chat rooms, MySpace or YouTube; no contact with the victim or the co-defendants in the case; and none of the defendants can go to Mulberry High School or attend any functions at the school. Cooper and co-defendants Mercades Nichols, 17; Brittni Hardcastle, 17; Kayla Hassell, 15; Brittany Mayes, 17; Cara Murphy, 16; Zachary Ashley, 17; and Stephen Schumaker, 18, face charges of battery and kidnapping. Nichols, Hardcastle and Mayes also face a count of tampering with a witness. Ashley and Schumaker served as lookouts during the beating, sheriff's officials said.

The charges stem from a beating that sheriff's detectives said occurred at Nichols' home, where Victoria "Tori" Lindsay was staying. The Sheriff's Office has said the girls pummeled 16-year-old Lindsay so badly she had a concussion. Her ear and eye were also injured. Lindsay said the girls bragged they were going to put the videotaped beating on YouTube and MySpace.

The teens wouldn't allow Lindsay to leave the home, according to sheriff's reports. Three of them eventually drove her to a friend's house, where they told her, "If you go to the police, the next beating will be worse," a report said.

None of the teens spoke as they faced Polk County Court Judge Angela Cowden on Friday, and most of the girls kept their heads down, allowing their long hair to cover their faces.

Mayes showed some emotion when Cowden read the charges and the possible sentence -- including up to life in prison for the kidnapping charge. Mayes started to tear up, but she, too, held her head down and let her hair cover her face.

Ashley looked angrily at photographers and periodically turned his head to the side not to face the media or the television screen.

None of the teens' relatives were inside the courtroom at the jail, and by the time the hearing was over, none were in the jail lobby either, where the public watches first appearances via television. One woman, who said she was a friend of one of the teens, was in the lobby. But neither she, nor the teenage girl with her, would comment.

On their way out of the courtroom at the courthouse, one of Hardcastle's relatives told a television reporter that their family has received death threats.

It's unclear whether any of the teens posted bond Friday. A Sheriff's Office employee said she could not release any information because of a gag order granted Wednesday. That order bans the Sheriff's Office, which runs the county jail, attorneys and witnesses from discussing the case publicly.